State champs move up to C2 this season

HARTINGTON — What does one do to follow up on a state championship season?

One would hope you could just throw a volleyball on the court and say “go get ‘em,” but it doesn’t work that way if you want to climb the mountain again.

There is plenty for Cedar Catholic to replace from last season’s Class D1 State Champion volleyball squad, but there’s plenty left for another run.

As usual, the schedule is formidable and Cedar Catholic has moved back to Class C2 for the 2023 season.

One of the key ingredients for success this year for the Cedar Catholic Lady Trojans will be in the back row, libero, Katy Jones.

If you don’t know how a libero can be an integral part of a team, you haven’t seen Jones play.

She was listed on every significant all-state team for her play as a junior and is taking on a more active role in leadership on the court as a senior.

“We heard a quote, ‘our team is my responsibility’ and I think that really helps everyone own their own role and how it will take all 26 girls on this team to keep pushing each other,” Jones said. “I feel our volleyball IQ has grown and we are constantly talking about what we need to do to fix it so we can have another successful year.”

Jones is on track to reach the 1,000-dig plateau this season and is the lead voice on the court for improvement through hard work.

“Everyone wants to work hard and the coaches have created this culture during the season but also in the off season,” Jones said.

She recalled during this “off season,” they played 36 games of volleyball at two team camps and came together for 24 hours of volleyball for a camp designed just for the Lady Trojans.

“As athletes, we have to take pride in what ever we bring every day,” Jones said. “We need to focus on getting one percent better in everything we do all the time to set us up for success.”

Jones will have plenty of help in the front row from fellow senior Lexi Eickhoff.

Eickhoff roams the middle and is on pace to record her 350th block this year. She was also named to the Mid-State All Conference team and was listed all-state honorable mention by the Omaha World Herald and Lincoln Journal-Star.

Melayna McGregor returns on the outside after a great State tournament, which saw her named to the Class D1 All-Tournament Team while also earning all-state and allconference honorable mention as a sophomore.

Lauren Bernecker will be back in the middle for her junior campaign after being tabbed allconference and all-state honorable mention last season and another senior and defensive specialist is back in the form of Annika Kuehn, who was named all-state honorable mention.

In addition, seniors Grace Wortmann, Faith Christensen and Ella Bowers will contribute along with juniors Lyndsey Hamilton, McKinley Lammers, Bailey Hochstein and Katelyn Arens.

Head coach Denae Buss has been looking forward to the problem she is currently facing.

“We have so many good players, it’s going to be very hard to decide who gets a varsity jersey,” she said. “We lost a couple of great players, but we seriously have a bunch of really good players to choose from and put on the court.”

She also expects sophomore Addison Walter and freshman Brynn Bernecker to find time on the varsity this season.

The Lady Trojans open the season in a triangular at Homer along with Randolph and the Lady Knights on Aug. 24.

A match with Lutheran High Northeast in Norfolk will close out August with the Scotus Central Catholic Tournament set to open Sept. 2.

A trip to Crofton and a triangular with Elgin Public-Pope John and Norfolk Catholic in Norfolk will follow.

September continues with the Stanton tournament, a single match with Pierce in Mid-State Conference play and a date with Wayne and O’Neill in a triangular in O’Neill.

They finish the month with a trip to Battle Creek before hosting Guardian Angels Central Catholic on Sept. 28.

October opens with a triangular at Wynot with the Lady Blue Devils and Ponca and single matches, one at home with Laurel-Concord-Coleridge and one on the road at Boone Central on Oct. 12.

The Mid-State Conference Tournament will run from Oct. 16-19 with the C2-5 Sub-District scheduled for Oct. 23-24.

C2-5 is stacked with good teams as it consists of the Lady Trojans, Crofton, Hartington-Newcastle, Laurel-Concord-Coleridge and Ponca.